Tips on Preparing Your Home for Sale Day

There are more than 20,000 homes for sale in the Lower Mainland, so making your home stand out for potential buyers is vital. It is especially true in today's buyer's market. First, work with your Realtor to get the maximum exposure for the home. Then prep both yourself and your home for sale day.

Say to yourself, "This is not my home; it is a housea product to be sold." Make the mental decision to let go of your emotions and focus on the fact that soon this house will no longer be yours. Picture yourself handing over the keys and envelopes containing appliance warranties to the new owners.

Say goodbye to every room. Don't look backwardslook toward the future. All sellers want their home to sell fast and bring top dollar. Well, it's not luck that makes that happen. It's careful planning and knowing how to professionally spruce up your home. Here is how to prep a house and turn it into an irresistible and marketable home.

Dawna Johnson, an Accredited Staging Professional Master (ASP) says the idea behind staging is to allow rooms to show themselves. Think clean and simple: when prepping a home for sale, get rid of clutter, clean and, if necessary, stage rooms with rented artwork, flowers.

"If your home is vacant, it's soulless," Dawna warns. "Without staging, it will probably remain on the market for many months." She has this practical advice for making a home sparkle:

Apply orange oil to cabinets that appear dry, which will renew their original lustre

Put out large bowls of fruit such as polished apples, bright oranges, luscious grapes

Arrange colourful and fun cookbooks on the kitchen counters

Dawna believes in bringing the outdoors inside through the use of greenery and plants, creating clean, crisp spaces and arranging furniture with plenty of room to walk around.

She says bathrooms are essential to dress well. "Bathrooms should look open, airy and delightful," says Dawna. One of her favourite tricks is to add baskets filled with spa items such as small towels tied with ribbon, bottles of lotion and scented soaps.

The front and back yards often need staging, too. For patios and decks, Dawna brings in plants and potted flowers and makes sure decks are clean and clutter free. Your Realtor has been through many open houses and will be able to provide other tips on getting your home sale-day ready.

As an REW.ca writer and editor, Elizabeth spends every day immersed in real estate news and opinion so she can deliver fresh, relevant articles to our visitors. She comes from a varied background in Internet marketing, book publishing, multimedia writing and radio, but what prepared her best for this position is her experience as a renter, seller and buyer in the Vancouver real estate market.

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